Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• Qin Fengming realizes that Faith Incense Energy gathers around people who are remembered, spoken of, or worshipped. Confident that his own reputation has generated a vast amount, he decides to learn how to refine it.
• With no known instructions to follow, Qin begins circulating his cultivation art. A faint halo forms around him, and he enters a seemingly unconscious state as his cultivation proceeds on its own.
• Su Zishan and Ying Fei develop similar halos half a day later; Guo Chang and the other True Immortals follow two days after that. The halos gradually thicken, with Qin’s growing fastest, suggesting he is refining the energy most effectively.
• Meanwhile, eighteen True Immortals from the Lianyang Immortal Domain enter the Xiyao Mountain Perilous Region. Though they claim to be looking for Qin and his companions, many also hope to seize the treasures taken from two destroyed sects.
• Six months later, they find and forcibly break Qin’s formation imprisoning three True Immortal ferocious beasts. The released beasts attack the scattered group. Unable to cooperate, the True Immortals flee, and the beasts kill and devour five of them before returning to their former territory.
• The beasts are further enraged when they discover that the pill scent they had been following has vanished and the cave entrance is no longer accessible.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Fengming shows confidence in his growing reputation and patience in facing an unfamiliar cultivation method. His ability to enter the refining state before the others—and absorb the energy faster—sets him apart.
• Su Zishan, Ying Fei, Guo Chang, and the other cultivators also begin refining Faith Incense, though more slowly than Qin.
• The eighteen True Immortals reveal self-interest beneath their stated concern: they want both to pursue the killers and to claim their spoils. Their mutual suspicions and grudges prevent them from working together when danger strikes.
• The three ferocious beasts respond with fury to their disturbance, hunting the fleeing cultivators and then returning angrily to the blocked cave.

Significant themes

• Reputation and spiritual power: Faith Incense turns people’s attention and devotion into a potentially cultivatable force, and Qin’s fame may give him an unusual advantage.
• Cooperation versus self-interest: The True Immortals’ failure to unite turns a potentially manageable threat into a massacre.
• The danger of greed and recklessness: Their desire for treasure leads them to break a formation without understanding what it contains.
• Unequal talent and progress: The differing speed at which the cultivators’ halos grow hints at differences in their aptitude for refining Faith Incense.

Plot and key events

• Three True Immortal beasts break through the concealment array and enter the cave, searching for the cultivators. Unable to find them, they gather around the square and sense something unusual about its barrier.
• Huang Shi, Guo Chang, and the others awaken inside the sealed space. Their Faith Incense Energy has formed hazy halos around them, but they cannot control it or leave without Qin Fengming opening the barrier.
• Ying Fei and Su Zishan awaken after gathering their own Incense Energy. They discover that Qin Fengming’s halo is vastly denser and still growing, while the surrounding energy is being drawn into him.
• As he refines the energy, Qin Fengming enters a vision of countless tiny particles, each apparently containing a worshipping being. He recognizes these as Faith Incense and tries to understand and control the strange power within them.
• Qin Fengming has unknowingly merged with the statue’s Incense Origin, an exceptionally rare energy generated when Incense Energy coalesces. This lets him experience a state normally accessible only to Dao Lords.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Fengming is revealed to possess an immense reserve of Faith Incense, accumulated through his fame across several realms and domains. His unprecedented contact with Incense Origin hints at a power beyond his current cultivation level.
• Ying Fei and Su Zishan are astonished by the scale of his accumulated energy. Their attention shifts from their own cultivation to watching his extraordinary refinement.
• Huang Shi, Guo Chang, and the other cultivators remain dependent on Qin Fengming to release them, unaware of the full extent of what is happening to him.
• The three beasts’ hunt creates a threat outside the barrier, while the cultivators remain trapped within.

Significant themes

• Reputation and accumulated influence: Qin Fengming’s past deeds have gathered worship and praise across many worlds, turning his fame into a vast, unintended source of power.
• Power beyond cultivation rank: Although Qin Fengming is only a Golden Immortal, he reaches a state associated with Dao Lords through a rare encounter with Incense Origin.
• The mystery of faith and the Great Dao: Faith Incense is shown as a force distinct from immortal Spirit Power, with origins and workings that even powerful cultivators do not fully understand.

Key plot points and events

• Qin Fengming meditates on the unclaimed Faith Incense energy in the plaza, unknowingly fusing with its source and drawing in an extraordinary amount of energy.
• Ying Fei and Su Zishan watch in amazement. They wonder whether Qin Fengming is a Dao Lord cultivating anew, but conclude that his abilities are remarkable either way.
• After roughly a month, Qin Fengming suddenly roars and, apparently acting without conscious intent, forms a huge palm from the Faith Incense energy and strikes the statue.
• The strike releases a vast surge of Law Divine Chain cloud-pattern fragments. The blast injures everyone nearby: Ying Fei and Su Zishan are badly wounded, as are Guo Chang and the other True Immortals. Qin Fengming suffers the most, but the energy does not kill them.
• Recognizing the fragments as a rare opportunity, the cultivators begin sensing and studying them despite their injuries.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Fengming is shown to possess an astonishing capacity for Faith Incense energy, far beyond what others expect of a newly advanced Golden Immortal. He is surprised by the fragments’ appearance, since he did not consciously know his strike would reveal them, but his pain quickly gives way to excitement.
• Ying Fei and Su Zishan move from wonder to alarm as Qin Fengming’s energy grows, then are injured by the blast. Their awe deepens when they realize the statue has released precious law fragments.
• Guo Chang and the other True Immortals are initially stunned by Qin Fengming’s feat, then respond pragmatically by concentrating on the opportunity before them.
• Ying Fei and Su Zishan discuss what Qin Fengming’s power might mean, agreeing that his future potential could rival their Old Ancestor’s.

Significant themes

• Hidden potential and mystery: Qin Fengming’s power and knowledge seem to exceed what his age and cultivation level should allow.
• Opportunity amid danger: The Law Divine Chain fragments are a rare boon, but reaching them comes at the cost of severe injuries.
• Unintended consequences: Qin Fengming’s unconscious action triggers an event he neither anticipated nor understood.
• Ambition and awe: The other cultivators’ reactions reveal how extraordinary the opportunity—and Qin Fengming’s capabilities—appear to them.

Key plot points and events

• Qin Fengming finishes studying the Law Divine Chain fragments and asks the Golden Wave Divine Monarch why so many have gathered around the statue. The Divine Monarch can only theorize that the fallen Dao Lord’s Faith Incense Energy was drawn there by a prearranged Restrictive Spell, where it interacted with the local laws.
• Qin Fengming is satisfied with the Faith Incense and law fragments he has gained and declines to investigate further. He tells Ying Fei and Su Zishan that his fame comes from saving several lower-realm planes from destruction.
• He leads the group out of the Restrictive Spell. The five True Immortals from the Lianyang Immortal Domain thank him, recognizing that his help made their extraordinary gains possible.
• Three True Immortal ferocious beasts—previously trapped by Qin Fengming—appear, but become docile because they recognize the statue’s aura clinging to the group. Against the women’s cautions, Qin Fengming tests whether he can tame one with the pills it likes. One approaches, accepts a pill, and Qin Fengming stores it away.
• Ying Fei asks whether they should investigate a distant hall. Qin Fengming refuses, sensing danger and deciding they have already gained enough. The group leaves the Rift Space and mountain cave, which he conceals with a Restrictive Spell.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Fengming remains confident and pragmatic: he is grateful for his gains, avoids a potentially dangerous hall, and nevertheless takes a calculated risk in trying to tame one beast.
• Ying Fei and Su Zishan are impressed by Qin Fengming’s achievements and concerned for his safety. Su Zishan approaches the beasts first, while both women recognize that their assigned role of protecting him has been reversed and resolve to support him where they can.
• The five True Immortals show deep gratitude and humility toward Qin Fengming, who credits them with earning their rewards through perseverance rather than claiming all the credit himself.
• The selected beast shifts from threatening predator to eager, obedient companion, responding to the aura and the promise of pills.

Significant themes

• Gratitude and restraint: Qin Fengming values his extraordinary rewards but resists greed, choosing not to pursue the mysterious hall.
• Power and responsibility: Others depend on Qin Fengming’s strength, while his companions’ concern reflects the risks of relying on it.
• Trust built through care: Qin Fengming begins taming the beast not through force alone, but by offering food and planning to maintain its loyalty.

Plot points and events

• True Immortal Guo Chang and four companions offer Qin Fengming valuable herbs and materials as thanks for their expedition. Qin initially offers payment, but accepts when they refuse and suggests they use their finds to compensate the three cultivators who died.
• At the Restricted Land, Qin confirms that someone broke his formation, likely allowing the three vicious beasts to escape. He leaves the five cultivators to search the area and continues with Ying Fei and Su Zishan.
• After traveling by teleportation arrays, the trio leaves the Lianyang Immortal Domain, crosses Xuan Yi Palace Territory, and enters the Muyun Palace Territory.
• Qin discusses visiting Muyun Palace with his master, the Golden Wave Divine Monarch, who says he still has old ties there and that Qin would be welcomed as a core disciple. They decide to first fulfill their request to find Dragon God Bone and restore the Divine Monarch’s body.
• The group reaches the outskirts of Firmament City, the Dragon Clan’s immense, floating stronghold. Entry requires special Identity Tokens, which Su Zishan explains they must obtain.

Character development

• Qin shows generosity and fairness: he declines to profit from the five cultivators’ gratitude and instead directs them to aid the bereaved.
• The Golden Wave Divine Monarch grows hopeful and affectionate toward Qin, appreciating that his disciple has kept his recovery in mind. The possibility of returning to Muyun Palace restores his enthusiasm.
• Qin remains practical, prioritizing the Dragon God Bone quest before pursuing the benefits of his master’s former connections.

Themes

• Gratitude and reciprocity: Qin’s companions want to repay him, and he redirects their gratitude toward those who suffered losses.
• Loyalty and mentorship: Qin supports his master’s recovery and considers how to help him return to his former community.
• Power and safety: The Dragon Clan’s dominance shapes life around Firmament City, where even powerful travelers are cautious and dangerous creatures roam.
• Homecoming and belonging: The prospect of revisiting Muyun Palace offers the Divine Monarch a return to his roots.

Character interactions

• Guo Chang and the other True Immortals express gratitude and defer to Qin; Qin responds graciously and gives them a practical way to use their resources.
• Qin consults the Golden Wave Divine Monarch about Muyun Palace. The master explains its history and welcomes the idea of returning, while Qin sets the Dragon God Bone quest as their first priority.
• As they approach Firmament City, Su Zishan guides Qin through the entry rules, while Qin and his companions observe the Dragon Clan’s formidable territory.

Plot points and events

• Qin Fengming, Ying Fei, and Su Zishan enter Firmament City using Restriction Tokens, which cost one hundred immortal Spirit Stones and remain valid for a century.
• Qin is impressed by the city’s immense landscape, abundant Immortal Spirit Energy, and an additional energy that seems to nourish the body.
• A Golden Immortal retainer of Third Young Master Xiao demands that the women meet his master. Ying Fei refuses and uses a controlled sealing technique to knock him unconscious without injuring him.
• Another retainer, surnamed Hu, attacks Ying Fei with an illusory claw. She destroys it with a single strike, drawing a crowd of spectators.
• Hu challenges Ying Fei to fight in Firmament City’s Life and Death Arena, intending to defeat her and deliver her to his master. Qin encourages her to accept and promises to take responsibility for any trouble.
• Qin learns that the city permits limited exchanges of attacks in public, while the Life and Death Arena allows lethal combat if both sides sign a pact. He tells Ying Fei to fight freely and protect the honor of Grand Clarity Palace.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Fengming remains observant and composed, quickly learning the city’s rules. His reassurance gives Ying Fei confidence, and he asserts his authority as the group’s senior member.
• Ying Fei responds decisively to coercion, demonstrating precise power and a willingness to meet Hu’s challenge once Qin supports her.
• Su Zishan serves as a practical, calm presence, explaining the cost and duration of the Restriction Tokens.
• The retainers’ attempt to pressure the women turns into a public challenge, while the gathered cultivators treat the confrontation as entertainment.

Significant themes

• Power and coercion: Xiao’s followers use their master’s status to intimidate others, but Ying Fei refuses to submit.
• Rules and violence: Firmament City’s unusual customs permit controlled public duels and formal lethal combat, making conflict part of its culture.
• Loyalty and responsibility: Qin’s backing strengthens Ying Fei, while his warning to uphold Grand Clarity Palace’s reputation frames the coming fight as a matter of both personal resolve and sect honor.

Key plot points and events

• Qin Fengming, Ying Fei, and Su Zishan follow the burly Hu to a Life and Death Arena, where Ying Fei accepts his challenge and pays the entry fee.
• Onlookers explain that Hu serves Third Young Master Xiao, a notorious figure accused of forcing himself on female cultivators. They suspect the newcomers may have enough power to challenge his influence.
• Ying Fei enters the arena to fight Hu, who transforms into a formidable Boar Dragon Beast. She attacks with an Azure-Blue Exotic Flame that clings to and burns through his defenses while she easily evades his counterattacks.
• As Qin Fengming and Su Zishan watch, Third Young Master Xiao arrives. Qin’s curiosity—and blunt remark—provokes the surrounding cultivators, who mock him for being only a Golden Immortal.
• Su Zishan silences the crowd with a forceful shout that knocks hundreds of cultivators off balance. Arena officials then order Ying Fei’s fight stopped.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Fengming remains confident in Ying Fei’s abilities and openly challenges the reputation surrounding Xiao, showing little concern for the crowd’s hostility.
• Ying Fei is decisive and composed, accepting Hu’s challenge without hesitation and demonstrating powerful flame techniques.
• Su Zishan expresses complete confidence in Ying Fei and fiercely defends Qin when spectators insult him, revealing both her loyalty and strength.
• Hu relies on his beast form and formidable physical defenses, but Ying Fei’s flames appear to be overwhelming him.
• Third Young Master Xiao has not yet confronted the trio, but his arrival immediately raises the stakes.

Significant themes

• Power and reputation: Xiao’s influence has kept past victims from resisting, but the newcomers appear unwilling to be intimidated.
• Loyalty and protection: Su Zishan’s swift defense of Qin reinforces the group’s solidarity.
• Skill versus brute strength: Ying Fei’s evasive movement and specialized flames counter Hu’s physical toughness.
• Public spectacle and intervention: The arena’s crowd watches the duel as entertainment, until Xiao’s arrival prompts officials to intervene.

Key plot points and events

• At Firmament City’s Life and Death Arena, a guard warns that the match ends only when one combatant dies. An old true immortal, Li, threatens Qin Fengming and Su Zishan if Hu Yin is killed.
• Qin ignores Li and openly provokes Third Young Master Xiao, whose attendant Hu Yin is fighting Ying Fei. Hu Yin is soon overwhelmed by Ying Fei’s blue-green flames.
• Xiao cannot intervene while the arena contest continues. When Li curses Ying Fei and threatens revenge, Su Zishan challenges him to fight.
• Xiao then declares that he will fight one of the women, stirring the crowd. Before that can happen, Qin announces the arena battle’s outcome: Ying Fei has slain Hu Yin.
• Ying Fei emerges victorious, gives Qin Hu Yin’s surviving spiritual body, and says the fight was easier than expected. Qin praises her, stores the spiritual body, and keeps the ruined beast corpse to feed his Silver Sheath Worms.
• Xiao demands another opponent. Ying Fei and Su Zishan both volunteer, but Li insists that they must face him first. Qin steps forward to take Li’s challenge himself.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Fengming remains unawed by Xiao’s status and confidently backs his companions. He is pleased by Ying Fei’s strength and asserts his authority as her “Little Martial Uncle” by taking Li’s challenge.
• Ying Fei demonstrates formidable combat ability, decisively killing Hu Yin, yet remains cheerful and deferential toward Qin.
• Su Zishan reacts fiercely to Li’s threats, challenges him, and competes with Ying Fei for the next fight—partly to avoid letting Ying Fei claim all the attention.
• Third Young Master Xiao appears composed but grows visibly hostile as Hu Yin loses. Once the battle ends, he demands a new opponent and targets Qin’s group.
• Li acts as Xiao’s protector and ally, escalating the confrontation with threats and then challenging the women.

Significant themes

• Power over reputation: Qin and his companions refuse to be intimidated by Xiao’s standing or the crowd’s admiration.
• Loyalty and protection: Su Zishan defends Ying Fei, while Qin supports his martial niece and steps into danger himself.
• Competition and confidence: Ying Fei’s victory and the women’s eagerness to fight highlight their strength and rivalry.
• The brutality of the arena: The match is explicitly a fight to the death, and victory leaves Hu Yin’s body and spiritual fate in Qin’s hands.

Key plot points and events

• Qin Fengming agrees to fight the powerful True Immortal surnamed Li in Firmament City’s Life and Death Arena, despite being only a Golden Immortal. The duel is restricted to physical combat.
• Qin’s companions, Ying Fei and Su Zishan, fear for him but trust his judgment. The arena officials confirm they will punish Li if he breaks the rules.
• Qin deliberately accepts the duel as a test of his body, recently strengthened by repeated exposure to lightning energy. He wants Li to attack with everything he has so he can gauge his own limits.
• Li, a Demon Race cultivator with an exceptionally strong body, seeks revenge for his sworn friend Hu Yin, whose body Qin’s side destroyed and whose spiritual body they captured.
• Li enlarges and reinforces his body, confident that his racial advantage will overwhelm Qin. Qin counters by manifesting dark green scales and soul mist, then meets Li’s charge head-on.
• Their first punch collides with tremendous force, cracking the surrounding space—and sends Li flying backward, stunning him.

Character developments

• Qin Fengming shows confidence, composure, and a willingness to take calculated risks. Rather than relying on spells, he seeks to test the physical power he has cultivated.
• Ying Fei and Su Zishan move from alarm to guarded confidence, drawing reassurance from Qin’s past successes and his hidden resources.
• Li begins arrogant, trusting the Demon Race’s natural physical superiority, but Qin’s aura and unexpected strength make him wary. His motivation is driven by loyalty and revenge for Hu Yin.
• The spectators and Third Young Master Xiao are astonished by Qin’s willingness to challenge a top-tier True Immortal at such a lower cultivation rank.

Significant themes

• Strength beyond cultivation rank: Qin’s challenge suggests that rank alone does not determine combat ability.
• Potential and self-cultivation: Qin argues that human bodies have great potential, despite humans’ relatively modest natural physical strength.
• Testing oneself through danger: Qin enters the deadly arena not only to win but to discover the limits of his strengthened body.
• Loyalty and revenge: Li’s determination stems from his bond with Hu Yin and his wish to save his captured friend.

Character interactions

• Ying Fei and Su Zishan try to dissuade Qin, then support his decision.
• Qin and Li agree to a body-only duel, with the arena authorities serving as enforcers of the rules.
• Li taunts Qin for challenging a Demon Race cultivator physically; Qin answers by asserting humanity’s potential and demonstrating unexpected strength.
• Their first exchange reverses expectations: Li’s supposedly overwhelming physical advantage fails, and Qin’s counterblow sends him hurtling backward.

Plot points and events

• Qin Fengming and the True Immortal, Li, begin a contest of physical strength under an agreement forbidding energy-based attacks. Qin’s scaled body and superior speed let him overwhelm Li, despite the difference in their cultivation realms.
• Li eventually uses an Immortal-energy foot-shaped attack to escape Qin’s onslaught, breaking the rules. Qin stops and calls him out.
• As Li begins releasing demonic mist to reveal his stronger true form, Qin launches several purple Thunder Orbs into it. Their explosions trap and devastate Li, who appears as a gigantic beast struggling helplessly.
• Third Young Master Xiao publicly acknowledges that Li broke the rules and declares him the loser. Once the lightning subsides, Qin collects Li’s corpse. The fight costs Qin only several dozen Thunder Orbs.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Fengming proves that his physical power, speed, and combat experience can let him dominate an opponent of a higher realm. He also exploits Li’s rule-breaking and acts decisively rather than giving him time to transform.
• Li grows frustrated and regrets not revealing his true form earlier. After falling behind in hand-to-hand combat, he abandons the agreement and is ultimately overwhelmed by Qin’s lightning attack.
• Third Young Master Xiao remains fair-minded, conceding that Li lost despite the embarrassment of his side’s defeat. Qin’s performance visibly unsettles him.
• Ying Fei defends Qin when a spectator accuses him of breaking the rules. Su Zishan and Ying Fei are openly pleased by Qin’s victory, though even they are impressed by the scale of his power.
• The watching cultivators move from disbelief at a Golden Immortal overpowering a True Immortal to astonishment at Qin’s command of devastating purple lightning.

Significant themes

• Strength beyond status: Cultivation rank does not guarantee victory; Qin’s physical ability and experience overturn expectations.
• Fairness and accountability: Li’s rule-breaking gives Qin’s side grounds to claim the match, while Xiao’s honest concession contrasts with the accusations and excuses among the spectators.
• Preparation and opportunity: Qin capitalizes on Li’s escape attempt and delayed transformation, turning the opening into a decisive strike.

Summary

Key plot points and events

• Qin Fengming defends his defeat of Elder Li, explaining that Elder Li used his divine ability first. The arena officials agree Qin did not break the rules, and he returns to Ying Fei and Su Zishan.
• Third Young Master Xiao, seeking revenge for his two fallen subordinates, challenges Qin’s group to a contest of attacks powered by Law Divine Chain cloud-pattern fragments.
• Qin accepts, but Su Zishan insists on fighting in his place. He gives her a ring containing Violet Lightning Thunderballs to use if she is in danger.
• Su Zishan and Xiao Ling enter the Life and Death Arena. Their law-energy auras collide before they even attack, splitting mountains and tearing open the void.
• Xiao Ling summons a golden dragon, while Su Zishan manifests a violet bird. They charge at each other, and their clash engulfs the battlefield in golden fire and violet light.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Fengming remains calm after defeating Elder Li and reveals that he had prepared for the arena officials to turn against him. Though willing to face Xiao Ling, he respects Su Zishan’s resolve and supports her with a defensive weapon.
• Su Zishan asserts her independence and refuses to let Qin shoulder every fight. She is presented as a formidable True Immortal, with substantial experience refining law fragments.
• Ying Fei backs Su Zishan’s claim to fight, showing concern for Qin and loyalty to her sister and sect.
• Xiao Ling is driven by grief and wounded pride. He turns his desire for revenge into a direct challenge against Qin’s group.
• The arena officials treat Qin respectfully, while the onlookers are astonished by the martial relationship between a Golden Immortal and his two True Immortal nieces—and by the scale of the impending duel.

Significant themes

• Power and risk: Law-fragment attacks are extraordinarily destructive but consume stored energy and leave their users with fewer means of protection.
• Loyalty and responsibility: Su Zishan and Ying Fei feel bound to protect Qin, while Qin seeks to protect them in turn.
• Pride and revenge: Xiao Ling’s challenge is fueled by his losses and humiliation.
• Hidden capability: Qin’s collected violet lightning and the younger women’s formidable abilities challenge assumptions based on cultivation rank.
  The chapter ends with Su Zishan and Xiao Ling’s attacks colliding; the outcome remains unresolved.

Plot points and events

• Su Zishan, a member of the Purple Phoenix Clan, fights Xiao Ling in the Life and Death Arena using Law Divine Chain cloud-pattern energy.
• Qin Fengming predicts that neither fighter will win: their power is evenly matched, and neither wants to risk exhausting themselves in a fight to the death. The battle ends without a clear victor.
• Qin explains that the contest tested their reserves of law-fragment energy, not their overall strength. Su and Ying Fei credit their earlier gains in an Ancient Cultivator’s Cave Dwelling with helping Su match Xiao Ling.
• Qin then challenges Xiao Ling to a contest of the same energy. When Xiao Ling hesitates, Qin reminds him that he had promised to fight and taunts him over his honor and the Xiao Household’s reputation.
• Xiao Ling asks for two months to recover. Qin refuses to wait, declaring that he will fight immediately—one strike each—in the arena, and asks, “Do you dare?”

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Fengming displays keen judgment, accurately reading the duel’s balance and the fighters’ reluctance to push it to a fatal conclusion. He then uses sharp verbal pressure to confront Xiao Ling and project confidence despite being a Golden Immortal.
• Su Zishan demonstrates considerable strength as a supreme True Immortal and emerges unharmed from a fierce, evenly matched contest. Her tragic origins are briefly revealed: Qin’s senior martial uncle rescued her after a calamity struck her clan.
• Ying Fei admires Qin’s insight and affectionately supports Su after the match.
• Xiao Ling remains proud but is visibly shaken by Qin’s challenge. Unable to claim a decisive advantage over Su, he tries to delay the promised fight.
• Qin’s allies trust his confidence, while the surrounding spectators initially regard his casual talk of finding law-fragment-rich places as unrealistic.

Significant themes

• Strength and survival: In the cultivation world, the weak become prey, so survival depends on continually growing stronger.
• Measured restraint: Even powerful fighters must weigh the cost of battle; stopping can be wiser than pursuing victory at the risk of mutual destruction.
• Judgment versus raw power: Qin’s ability to understand the combatants’ limits proves valuable despite his lower realm.
• Honor and reputation: Qin turns Xiao Ling’s earlier promise into leverage, framing hesitation as a breach of personal and clan honor.

Key plot points and events

• Qin Fengming challenges Xiao Ling to resume their contest only once Xiao reaches the true immortal realm, pointing out that their current strength is unequal.
• Young City Lord Jiang steps in, offering to fight Qin instead. Qin insists that the city lord himself come and formally guarantee the terms: a Life-and-Death Pact, with the winner’s life or death left to fate.
• City Lord Jiang arrives before the assembled cultivators. Qin and his companions remain standing while everyone else bows, and Qin addresses the powerful Dao Lord respectfully but without submission.
• When Jiang asks who will fight his son, Qin volunteers despite being only a golden immortal. Su Zishan and Ying Fei urge him to let one of them take the match, but Qin refuses, confident in his advantage with Law Divine Chain cloud pattern fragments.
• Qin asks City Lord Jiang to swear that he will not retaliate if Qin kills his son. He declines to reveal his sect, reasoning that its name might intimidate Jiang’s side and prevent a genuine contest.
• The chapter ends with City Lord Jiang, sensing that Qin and his companions are unusually fearless, asking his son whether he still wants to proceed.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Fengming shows boldness, pride in his sect, and a willingness to risk death for both its reputation and his own cultivation. He uses his confidence to force the Jiang family to accept clear, public terms.
• Young City Lord Jiang (Fan’er) begins with contempt for Qin but becomes uneasy as Qin refuses to be intimidated and demands a life-and-death guarantee.
• City Lord Jiang remains composed, but Qin’s bearing makes him suspect the visitors may come from a formidable background.
• Su Zishan and Ying Fei show concern for Qin and offer to take his place; Qin’s refusal underscores his authority as their martial uncle.
• Xiao Ling, previously challenged by Qin, grows apprehensive after watching him confront the city lord and his son.
• The crowd’s mockery gives way to silence and respect as Qin’s fearlessness becomes clear.

Significant themes

• Honor and dignity: Qin will not bow, even before a Dao Lord, because he believes doing so would shame his sect.
• Courage and risk: He knowingly accepts a potentially fatal challenge as a test of himself.
• Power and hidden identity: Qin withholds his sect affiliation to prevent his opponents from being influenced by its reputation.
• Fairness and accountability: The Life-and-Death Pact is meant to ensure the contest’s consequences cannot be manipulated by the city lord’s authority.

Qin Fengming defeated True Immortal Jiang Fan’s attack with the Big Dipper Seven Yuan Art, overwhelming him with Law Divine Chain cloud pattern fragment energy. He then challenged Third Young Master Xiao to a life-and-death contest, setting up the next battle.

• True Immortal Jiang Fan agreed to a life-and-death pact with Qin Fengming, and both signed it under City Lord Jiang’s supervision.
• Jiang Fan summoned a dragon head formed from Law Divine Chain cloud pattern fragment energy while Qin Fengming stood apparently idle.
• Qin Fengming unleashed the Big Dipper Seven Yuan Art, and its seven energy torrents shattered Jiang Fan’s dragon head and drove him back.
• Qin Fengming withdrew his attack and mocked Jiang Fan for retreating, then declared that he would challenge Third Young Master Xiao in the Life and Death Arena.
• Qin Fengming returned to the Firmament City cultivators and handed over immortal Spirit Stones, leaving the crowd astonished that a Golden Immortal had challenged two top-tier True Immortals in succession.

Qin Fengming defeated the challenges in Firmament City, revealed his standing as a direct disciple of the Grand Clarity Palace, and delivered Dao Lord Yi Zun’s Spirit Pearl to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan summoned long-lived True Immortals for a task, and Qin Fengming wondered whether it concerned the South of Cang.

• Xiao Ling conceded defeat, apologized, and offered three hundred thousand immortal Spirit Stones, which Qin Fengming accepted.
• Xiao Ling agreed to exchange three pieces of material for Hu Yin’s captured Profound Soul spiritual body.
• Qin Fengming introduced himself as a Direct Disciple of Ancestor Yuan Qing of the Grand Clarity Palace and identified Ying Fei and Su Zishan as his martial nieces.
• Qin Fengming told Jiang Yuan that Dao Lord Yi Zun had entrusted him with an errand and handed over the Spirit Pearl when five True Immortals arrived seeking it.
• After examining the Spirit Pearl, Jiang Yuan ordered Yue Rong to summon Firmament City’s True Immortals who had cultivated for more than five million years.
• Qin Fengming privately asked Jiang Yuan whether Yi Zun’s message concerned the South of Cang.

Qin Fengming learned that Dao Lord Yi Zun was gathering six True Immortals for a dangerous mission to the South of Cang, a place vital to the Miro Realm. He then asked Dao Lord Jiang Yuan for dragon god bone and, learning it could only be found in a perilous region, asked to go there himself.

• Qin Fengming told Dao Lord Jiang Yuan that he knew the South of Cang threatened the survival of the Miro Realm.
• Jiang Yuan invited Qin Fengming to his Cave Abode while Ying Fei and Su Zishan waited in the Council Hall.
• Jiang Yuan revealed that Star Ancestor had ordered Yi Zun to lead six True Immortals to guard the South of Cang, where cultivators might find opportunities to advance.
• Qin Fengming asked to meet Yi Zun, but Jiang Yuan explained that Yi Zun would meet the selected cultivators elsewhere and did not reveal the location.
• Qin Fengming asked Jiang Yuan for dragon god bone, and Jiang Yuan explained that the rare material came from a deadly region.
• Qin Fengming asked Jiang Yuan to let him travel to the region where dragon god bone formed.

Qin Fengming agreed to enter the Dragon Tomb World at the next Dragon Soul Festival and offered to refine pills for Firmament City while seeking rare materials. After four years of pill refinement, he paid to enter Firmament City's Dragon Abyss alone, where he found a dim, frigid realm filled with jagged rocks and faint soul energy.

• Qin Fengming accepted the Dragon Tomb World entry conditions and asked Jiang Yuan to find ten pieces of unusual Immortal Artifact material.
• Qin Fengming offered to refine True Immortal Pills for Firmament City, and Jiang Yuan assigned Jiang Fan to coordinate the arrangements.
• Qin Fengming refined pills for four years, delivered one hundred and thirty pills to Jiang Fan, and asked to enter the Dragon Abyss.
• Qin Fengming paid the opening fee and entered the Dragon Abyss alone while Ying Fei and Su Zishan waited outside.
• Qin Fengming found himself in a vast, dim world of jagged rocks, icy air, and drifting soul energy.

Qin Fengming entered the Dragon Abyss and discovered that its energies could nourish both his Dragon Pattern Spirit-Infused Halberd and Spirit Devouring Netherflame. He continued descending into the abyss, stopping on another rock ledge to refine the surrounding energies.

• Qin Fengming sensed the dense yin energy and searched the realm for ghostly spirits before finding the immense Dragon Abyss.
• The Golden Wave Divine Monarch told Qin Fengming that dragon-soul aura in the abyss could advance his Wishful Soul Treasure and that his Spirit Devouring Netherflame could counter its dangers.
• Qin Fengming used the Spirit Devouring Netherflame to withstand the abyss's corrosive energy and found that the Dragon Pattern Spirit-Infused Halberd absorbed the aura around the pit.
• Qin Fengming descended onto a rock platform, where blue-black currents gathered and weakened his flame before seeming to nourish and strengthen it.
• Qin Fengming resumed his descent and stopped on another rock ledge to fuse and refine the heterogeneous energies.

Qin Fengming descended deep into the Dragon Abyss, strengthening the Spirit Devouring Netherflame and Dragon Pattern Spirit-Infused Halberd before learning to condense dragon crystals from the mist below. He left the chapter with the halberd absorbing the crystals and Taotie helping him gather mist, but he had run out of pills to sustain the effort.

• Qin Fengming reached the Dragon Abyss’s lower depths, where Golden Wave Divine Monarch warned him not to touch the tainted blood and told him to refine the mist into dragon crystals.
• Qin Fengming strengthened the Dragon Pattern Spirit-Infused Halberd as it formed a violet-red dragon and began actively absorbing the surrounding energy.
• Qin Fengming used a technique sent by Golden Wave Divine Monarch to condense a dragon crystal from the mist.
• Qin Fengming fed the dragon crystal to the halberd, causing scarlet light and a powerful aura of law energy to erupt from it.
• Qin Fengming used Taotie to devour the mist and gathered more dragon crystals, but stopped after consuming his last fast-acting pill.

Qin Fengming emerged from the Dragon Abyss with a strengthened Dragon Pattern Spirit-Infused Halberd and learned that his three-month absence outside had lasted more than a dozen years within. After recovering in Firmament City, he emerged from seclusion shortly before the Dragon Soul Festival and was surrounded by cultivators seeking True Immortal Pills.

• Qin Fengming left the Dragon Abyss with his strengthened Dragon Pattern Spirit-Infused Halberd and told Jiang Fan he had reached the mist-covered bottom.
• Jiang Fan and the other True Immortals doubted Qin Fengming until he rebuked them, then learned he had been gone for three months outside the Dragon Abyss.
• Jiang Fan escorted Qin Fengming, Ying Fei, and Su Zishan to a Reception Hall, where Qin Fengming entered seclusion to recover and refine his gains.
• Qin Fengming learned that the Dragon Soul Festival was approaching and emerged from seclusion a few days before it began.
• Dozens of cultivators surrounded Qin Fengming, Ying Fei, and Su Zishan to request True Immortal Pills, and a Firmament City cultivator explained why they had gathered.